Our Guamazing Adventure

Yesterday I flew to Denver for a surprise visit (don't worry, it was well coordinated with Mrs. R) to the in-laws!! Their big Thanksgiving family tradition includes a limo ride the night after Thanksgiving to Boulder, and then catching a show at the Boulder Dinner Theater. Too fun!!! We had a great time, saw The Producers, and even got some snow!! Yeah!! I'm here in D-town until Tuesday, and then will post lots of pics.

Chris is doing well... his bird broke down in Japan, so they are back on dry ground - at least for 24 hours. When they left Sasebo, the water was REALLY rough, so much so that the Captain made an announcement to secure all of their belongings. Chris said he secured everything except his cookies... he tossed those :) Just about everyone on the boat threw up, so I know he is grateful to be off the boat for a bit. I told him I was going to buy us a waterbed for Christmas :)

More later... might not be until Tuesday as there is MUCH going on at the in-laws!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!! Great turkey day in Kansas today! We started off with Bree, Aunt Katie, Aunt Michelle, cousin Catherine, Sophie, Arie and I running in the Turkey Trot. It was a blast!! I'm so glad that Katie agreed to run with me, since after she signed up it was a snowball effect for the rest of the fam. Of course when it was just me, no one was interested, but when KATIE was doing it... well then it was cool :) We had a great time!! And then of course this evening we had the annual Truesdell beer pong tournament. Katie and Uncle Dan lost to Tanner and Kevin, and Bree and I actually lost to my mom and Mrs. Stockwell. In my defense, Bree is (self-admittedly) one of the worst beer pong players of all time. But in her defense, she is #3 or 4 in the nation for flip cup... so it all evens out.

Other than the not so usual (turkey trot) and the usual shenanigans (beer pong), I gotta say - Thanksgiving was a little strange this year! Most likely we can attribute this to: a) I've already celebrated this same holiday multiple times in the last 2 months, and b) we needed Chris here!!! The food was still fabulous, the family still hilarious, and all signs pointed to Thanksgiving, but it was just a little different. Hard to believe 2 years ago tonight we got engaged, and now here we are some 10,000 miles apart. Chris had a great time in Japan, but is back on the boat en route to the next destination. I'm ready for him to come home :)

I wish that I had more to report from the eastern hemisphere. However, since I was on duty yesterday I spent my whole day watching movies and worrying about "my guys." Fortunately, the ship played some good flicks and everyone made it back last night with no episodes arrests, fights, or disorderly conduct.

Today, I got off a little later than I had hoped. We are preparing for a mission that requires some very substantial planning, so that cut into free time a bit. I was able to make my way to a phone to call Tess and just caught her before bed. No calls to D town since it was so late.

Tonight we have plans to go to the every popular Steak Salon. I have heard nothing but good things about this place. Picture of tonight will be posted tomorrow.

Love you all. I will call home to wish everyone an early Japanese Thanksgiving.




when was the last time that you talked on a pay phone?

Things are moving right along in Kansas City! It's still cold, still crazy, and still great to be home! Spent the day with mom getting ready for T-giving, and with Bree getting a haircut and of course, we had volleyball tonight. Too fun!!

Not going to write much tonight since Jim and Katie are in town AND I talked to Chris earlier on the phone and he has WAY better stories to post later! However, per Kami and Chris's requests I have a few pics to post! I PROMISE I'll take many more on Thursday!



Went to lunch in Lawrence last week with Tan Tan and Miss Margaret

So I think Chris is on duty tonight/tomorrow, so no out on the town for him for a couple of days! He said he had a good night last night, although they had a discipline issue with one of the enlisted personnel, so he was dealing with that... not his favorite thing to do. One of the officers is always on duty, which means they cannot leave the boat, and Chris is up tonight. I was SOOO excited to get to talk to him on the phone Saturday and Sunday! What a difference being able to talk to someone makes. Not that his one email a day isn't fabulous, but really...

Things are good in Kansas. FREEZING, but good! Saturday I stayed in solitary confinement waiting for Chris to call, and Sunday was a little more of the same, although I did go do the Gobbler Grind run. The first mile wasn't bad, but I thought my legs were going to freeze off and my lungs collapse after that. Too cold out!!! It could be too that I have gotten a little accustomed to the Guam heat - considering it "dropped" to 88 week before last... but, I didn't get last, got a pretty sweet long sleeved BRIGHT yellow t-shirt, and a "2007 Gobbler Grind finisher" medal. Yep, 2007 - budget cuts even in the racing world.

More tomorrow, and hopefully we'll hear more from Chris!

In Japanese, Habo means snake. Habusake means "even if you have a full stomach, have only a couple beers, when you drink it, you will loose your balance, ability to see and speak clearly, and you memory will not serve you correctly the day after."

All the officers from our detachment went out on the town last night. Sasebo is a city of about 200,000 and I would guess that the economy is supported in particular by Navy personnel. The city itself reminds me of San Francisco. We left base at about 6:00 for dinner. I'm not sure of the name of the restaurant, but we affectionately called it meat stick. The majority of the menu was meat on wooden skewers. I had steak, chicken, and this Ahi tuna dish that was amazing!

After dinner, we made our way to a bar where we ran into many of the ships crew. Those guys make about five times what we do and are incredibly generous. I think I payed for one drink the entire night. They even bought a round of, yes, Habusake. Habusake is sake that is fermented with a rattle snake in the jug. I'm not sure if there is a chemical reaction or what, but we were all a little "different" after we had a shot.



Beer tastes the same no matter where you are.


Boss with the Habu



Guess what? They celebrate Christmas in Japan too.

Post from CR:

Even if I spent the rest of the day on this post, the language and grammar would not be near as eloquent as Tessa's day after day. So, I will write just a short excerpt and hope that the pictures below will do a better job than I in sharing what I have been doing for the last five (or so) days.

Last week 30 pilots, aircrew, and maintainers left Guam in two Knighthawks bound to, what is typically a 6-9 month deployment. The day of departure we packed each "bird" with people, all sorts of maintainer’s gear, living effects, and tons of paper work. Everything that did not fit inside, we loaded in external cardboard crates called tri-walls and lifted each load to our temporary "home"--the USNS Shasta. Once every thing was transported to the boat, we unpacked and got settled into the space that was allocated to us.

Right from the start we were put to work. Over three days last week we were tasked with moving over 600,000 pounds of ammunition from one of the Navy’s Aircraft Carriers to an armory ship (an AE class). When the carrier pulls into a foreign port, the host county requires, for obvious reason, that it has all ammunition emptied. So of course, that’s where we come in. We move all the “goods” from the carrier to what basically amounts to a floating storage facility. So as long as the carrier is in port the AE floats around in international waters. When the carrier leaves port, we put everything back on. Tax payer dollars hard at work.

We now have a four day port stop in Sasebo, Japan. Stories to follow.

I think the pictures below will explain details.



Once a load is dropped at the AE, a fork lift drives to back, picks it up and drives it into a huge hanger torward the fron of the ship.


That's ma boat!



Getting ready for start up.



Home sweet home. And yes we have cable. Four channels.

Good day today! I was the "VIP" at the special guest lunch at Trailwood Elementary for my 1st grade cousin, Truman. Pretty exciting, and a great excuse to get McDonald's. Bree was another one of our cousins, Cecelia's guest. Fun four! After that, it was back home to help mom make pies for Thanksgiving, and then... TARGET!! YEAH!!! And STARBUCKS!! In a Target! Heaven!! Tonight Bree and I watched Grey's Anatomy.... which usually airs on Friday nights in Guam. It's so good to be back :) It really is the little things you miss when you're confined to an island without them...

Haven't heard from Chris tonight, but got a quick email from him very early this morning.

A little from C:

More vertrep today. Our bird got a late start because the fire bottles in it inadvertently went off. We didn't have any parts for replace them so another helo from a different squadron came from the big boat and gave us some parts. We were supposed to take off at 1130 and didn't get off until about 300. So a little late. The crew men however, got some amazing pitures of a sunset tonight. I can't wait to show you.

More tomorrow! TGIF!

I'm not sure when I developed it, but sometime in the last several years my body has established a 6 minute window for going to sleep. When I finally decide I'm tired, I have exactly 6 minutes to go to bed before I catch my second wind and am up all night. With the time change I am EXHAUSTED, but I just missed my window.... so here's to another all nighter!
Great day today with the family. Spent it mostly at Bree's with the nephews (Buddy and Declan)and then had a big family dinner tonight. Chris and I both ate lasagna - his was cold and mass produced, and mine was homemade (but with the size of my family, also mass produced). I'm still adjusting to Chris being gone, and I wish I could say it gets easier every day. I think it just gets more real that he's gone. BUT, I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed that he'll get to call soon, and that I'll get to meet him somewhere for Christmas. I used to think it was so important where you spent the holidays, but I will be more than happy to spend it in a dumpster in Kuala Lumpur if I can spend it with my husband!!

From Chris:

When we finished up VERTREP last night, it was time for bed. And yet we still had to fly around for an hour for the other bird to wash, fuel, fold, and get moved into the hangar. By that time it was pitch black with no visible horizon. EXHAUSTING! When we did eventually land I had the privilege of washing . . . fueling . . . folding . . . and moving OUR bird. You can only imagine how great the cold lasagna was that was waiting for me tasted! No but seriously, it was really good. Of course yours is better! When we were waiting on the other bird we played characters. You know? . . . Michael Jackson . . . John Smith . . . Stevie Wonder . . . Wilford Brimely. Fun Game! Flying today was great though. A big boat pulled up along side a smaller boat and we moved stuff from the big boat to the small boat. Ha ha seems simple enough even for Buddy, maybe even Dec to understand. Can’t get too into detail (names etc.). It was a blast though we were all telling jokes and one of the crewmen brought his ipod and hooked it up to the ICS (intercommunication system) and we listed to music. We even danced. I bet the lunch the little boat gave to us was of about the same caliber as the food that you had on your way home. But ours was free. $3.85??? Sucker! ... So since all the crew on the boat is civilian, they either work day shift 8-5 or night shift 5-8. If they go outside of those hours they get paid overtime. So when we came in after sunset and the fuel detail had to come out and fuel our bird this guy with a big grizzly beard tapped on my window and gave me a smile and a thumbs up. Apparently the Master (civ. CO) rarely approves "after hours." But since we have this huge job to do with the big boat, there was really no option. I guess we made his day. I sure hope he didn’t miss dinner because of us... What else? Boat rocked like a mother last night. I may not need to diet at all. Just stabilizing your body to stay in bed is the best core work out in the world. More tomorrow!!


The nephews! Buddy, 2 and Declan, 9 months

I made it!! I finally landed in KC today about 1:00p. It's 1:00a now, and my body is not convinced it's time to sleep -- despite being exhausted!!! But, it really is so good to be home. Mom, Bree and my two nephews met me at the airport, and then it was home for some good family time before Bree and I went to play volleyball -- her hospital has a team and they needed an extra player, so although I was a little nervous about developing narcolepsy in the middle of the game, I made it through and now I'm wide awake... and scrounging for some tylenol PM! I "heard" from Chris this morning -- sounds like he is BUSY, but he is clearly keeping his sense of humor. Pics from my adventure below.

From Chris:

About twenty minutes to take off. So only a quick note. We are getting ready to fly an eight . . . yes eight hour VERTREP. You know me well enough to know that when I fly for eight hours, I like to have a few cocktails, play some memory with you and maybe watch a bad gwenith paltrow movie. Nonetheless it should be awesome! I will write once we land.




Aww the very beginning of the adventure!! Kate and Hayden not only dropped me off at the terminal, they then went to McD's to bring me dinner while I was waiting. They are AWESOME!!!!!!



My travel buddies, at least for the first hop - Misa and Angelica. Misa' husband (and Kate's!) is out on the boat with Chris.









The GIANT
C-5








Gives you a pretty good idea of the size


Ridiculous!!










Empty cargo part of the plane

Ladder of death mentioned yesterday (and no, that's not me in the furry boots. I wore tennis shoes in order to run faster should we need to evacuate.)
Saw these and kind of felt like I was in a M*A*S*H episode



Then saw these and thought LOST/Gilligan's Island was more appropriate...


Then landed at Travis AFB and thought I was in some sort of horror flick.




Followed by Tom Hanks' The Terminal... with my makeshift bed in the Sacramento airport. Way less comfy than it looked, considering my 6 pairs of unnecessary stilletos were packed at the top of my suitcase. And notice the warehouse lighting, and consider the TSA announcements every 5 minutes -- did we REALLY need those for JUST ME to hear???? Needless to say, I'm a little sleep deprived.



But nephews totally make the trip worth it!!!



Yes, he wore an I heart Guam t-shirt to pick me up from the airport!!

More tomorrow... found some tylenol PM :)